Secrets and Memories

Chapter 17 (finish FF)

As I open my eyes, I try to sit up. My back hurt and my knees felt like they were on fire. But I brushed off the pain and focused on my surroundings.

It looks like I'm in an abandoned desert. There's no one around and nothing seems out of the ordinary. I spin slowly in a full circle, searching my surroundings for any threat. I know I'm in a test and that meant I'd have to battle some sort of thing.

"Hello Eraeya." I stumble backward and raise my hands, ready for anything. But the voice is coming from nowhere I can see.

"Oh how long it's been since I've seen you. I remember when you were only about... now how long. Maybe... four. You were only four and learning to control that fire of yours. Of course, your sister was always the better one. She grasped the ability and was able to control it like a duck to water. You, on the other hand, have only just managed to handle the heat." I grit my teeth and take deep breaths.

"You know nothing about me." I say. I hear the voice chuckle.

"How wrong you are Miss AFO, or should I say your real last name? Actually, maybe not. I like keeping you guessing. After all, aren't there memories missing from that small head of yours? Like, who and where your sister is. Why you feel a connection to that subject of being summoned. Why, why, why. All these questions you want the answers to, but don't have." I block my ears with my hands but the voice continues.

It taunts and tries to bring me to my knees. I can't stop it and no matter how hard I press on my ears, it feels like it's in my head more than anywhere.

"You'll never find answers. You'll always have a confusing past that doesn't have a solution. Why don't you give up now? After all, the solutions you're looking for are gone. Give up and try something else. You'll..."

"SHUT UP!" I open my eyes and stare right into space. The voice stops to let me speak.

"You know nothing about me. If you did, you'd know I would never give up on finding answers. I will search my whole life if I have to, but I will find answers!" I wait for the voice to start lecturing me again but instead, the desert fades away and I'm left with white again.

This time when the white fades, I'm faced with another familiar room. My breaths come in short gasps and I hold my hands under my armpits, like they're cold.

This memory was supposed to be buried, never to resurface.

"O'er 'ere boys. Getta good look at 'er 'fore we break 'er like a twig." I back away, just like I did all those years ago. The men advance and I turn and sprint away from them.

The guy that spoke, the leader, is wearing his thick black leather jacket with the studs on the shoulders. His boots hold similar points of metal on the tips.

His cronies, all beefy and big men with small brains, start to run after me. They all have similar jackets except theirs are brown and their boots don't hold the spikes that their leader has.

The fast one catches up to me but a burst of adrenaline makes me speed down a dark alley. The big guys have to go single file now but they make quick work of ordering themselves into a line as they run after me down the alley.

I look around me for an escape, but the alley just seems to go on forever without an end. I search the walls of the surrounding buildings but they hold no windows or ledges I can use.

"Give up little girl. You can't outrun us this time." I ignore his statement and run faster than I'd ever run before. I don't look behind me to see how close they were because I knew that would slow me down.

I squint into the distance of the alley but all I see are the same brick walls and cement pathway. I know I can't run for much longer but I also know I have to keep going.